Taxi! Bank robber fares well in getaway

Wednesday

Most cab drivers, especially in cities, can tell you how unpredictable their fares can be on any given day.

Most cab drivers, especially in cities, can tell you how unpredictable their fares can be on any given day.

And they can probably recite a laundry list of lost fares under mundane and extraordinary circumstances.

But after a bank robbery?

That’s precisely what was going on shortly before 3 p.m. as city and state police formed a small dragnet off Route 24 by Exit 8 in hot pursuit of a suspect they said robbed a Lynn bank nearly two hours earlier.

He’d arrived in Fall River in style.

City police had joined the pursuit after learning the robber had exited Garcia Taxi’s orange cab in the vicinity of North Main Street and Airport Road. He’d been last spotted by the cabbie behind Cumberland Farms and headed toward new developments around Apple Creek Lane.

The dispatch from state police at 2:49 described him as an African American man about 35 to 40, Sgt. Paul Bernier said.

Lynn Capt. Mark O’Toole provided further details Tuesday night about the robbery at Sovereign Bank at 39 Exchange St., where the man demanded money from a teller, whom he threatened. O’Toole would not say how much the man got away with.

No weapon was shown, but the suspect reportedly passed a note to the teller — before hopping his downtown taxi.

O’Toole further described the suspect as 5 foot 6 inches to 5 foot 10 inches tall, of medium build and wearing a tan collared shirt, jeans and a baseball cap.

Lynn police had confirmed a man fitting that description had grabbed the cab with Fall River as his destination.

“Before the taxi could be intercepted, the subjected exited the taxi in Fall River. Attempts to locate him have been unsuccessful,” O’Toole said in a press release.

Attempts were also unsuccessful Tuesday night to learn from Garcia Taxi whether the alleged bank robber had paid his fare.

How much would it cost to travel the nearly 60 miles? A dispatcher pegged it at $150 — a likely trifle for a man with a “free” bag of money.

For baseball fans, police shared one other detail on the night of the first summer rematch between the Red Sox and Yankees: He was wearing a dark Red Sox cap.

Anyone with information about the incident or who recognizes the subject is asked to call Lynn police at 781-595-2000.